


The Matryoshka Mystery

by Talyesin



Series: Aftermath on Finite Earths [21]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 06:45:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15455631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talyesin/pseuds/Talyesin





	The Matryoshka Mystery

Earth Two  
Gotham City

“The Thinker,” Ted Knight, the first Starman, said to his former teammates.

Ted Grant, the first Wildcat, scrubbed his stubbled chin with one knuckle. “Cliff DeVoe was a lotta things, but this kinda thing… Anyway, he’s in the clink.”

“What kind of thing are we talking about, anyway?” Al Pratt, the original and thus far only Atom, asked. “The only thing we know is, things have been quiet.”

“Too quiet,” Charles McNider, the original Dr. Mid-nite, replied quietly, gnarled hands gripping the head of his cane tightly.

“Exactly,” Wes Dodds said to his oldest surviving friends. Only Jay was absent. Alan and Clark were both enjoying a well-deserved retirement with their respective wives; Rex and Carter were long dead; Johnny and the Spectre unreachable; Kent was the only one still active with the Society. Of those assembled, only Al had super-powers of any kind – the rest of them had made do with their wits and street smarts long before Clark had changed the nature of the game forever. And Al had gotten into the game before he developed super-powers. Sure, Ted had his cosmic rod, and Charles’ strange inexplicable ability to only see in absolute darkness, but a fancy high-tech gadget and a fluke of biology hardly counted as powers. Besides, he trusted these men with his life, and had on numerous occasions.

“Still doesn’t answer the question, Wes,” Al continued, interrupting Wes’ woolgathering. “What are we talking about, here?”

“My dreams have been showing me terrible things, Al,” Wes explained. “The heartland of America on fire. Lady Liberty shattered. Powerful forces working against us. Someone is up to something, something terrible! We’re the only ones who can stop it! We’ve got to-“

Charles reached out a hand and laid it on Wes’ arm. “Calm down, old friend. Remember your heart condition.”

“If we don’t do something, Doc, my heart condition won’t mean a hill of beans.”

Ted leaned over and punched Wes in his other arm – just a light tap for him, but one Wes knew would probably leave a bruise. “Don’t worry about it, Wes. If anyone can figger out what’s goin’ on, it’s us.”

“Vandal Savage?” Ted asked, polishing his glasses.

“Still in space, isn’t he? Trapped on that asteroid Alan left him on?” Al asked by way of answering.

The bespectacled scientist consulted the computer in front of him. “According to the kids’ files – which, I’m sorry to admit, are woefully out of date, despite Beth’s best efforts – the asteroid went missing last month.”

“So it could be Savage,” Charles said.

“We still don’t really know there’s anyone behind anything,” Al continued stubbornly. “So things have been quiet lately. We’re not exactly spring chickens any more, and neither are they. The kids take care of the new villains. The old villains… well, remember how none of us even knew Mist was dead for more than a year?”

“Speak for yerself, there, kiddo,” the former heavyweight champion said, shoving Al’s head playfully. “Some of us old fogies ain’t about to dry up just yet.”

“All’s I’m saying is, if the Ultra-Humanite or whoever ain’t been heard of in a while, it don’t mean the big ape’s up to no good, it could just mean they got tired and chucked in the towel!”

“Humanite,” Wes muttered darkly, the many times the Society had faced their oldest and most persistent foe playing across the canvas of memory. “Has anyone heard anything about him?”

“Not in ages,” Charles said.

Ted consulted the computer console. “According to the JSA files, he’s been missing, presumed dead for years.”

“He’s been missing, presumed dead before,” Wes said, wrinkled brow furrowing in thought.

“Psycho-Pirate?”

“Still in Arkham, according to the files,” Ted answered. “Babbling on about how there’s only one Earth, only ever was one Earth.”

“What a nutjob,” the other Ted laughed. “Anyhow, somethin’ like this ain’t his style.”

“Apathy’s an emotion, isn’t it?” Charles asked, frowning behind his dark glasses. “What if something were happening, but he’d managed to make everyone so unconcerned they wouldn’t even think twice about reporting it?”

Ted scratched his head. “I dunno. Sounds like something way out of his league. Anyways, he’s in Arkham, right?”

“Don’t forget, during the Crisis, he controlled the emotions of the entire populaces of all five Earths,” Wes said.

“Yeah, but he had the Anti-Monitor fuelling his power, super-charging it,” Al argued.

“Still…”

“What about the Wizard?” the other Ted asked, fingers typing with arthritic slowness.

“What about him?”

“According to the database, he disappeared when the kids beat Injustice Unlimited last year, and no one’s seen hide nor hair of him – the rest of his team are still serving out their terms, but he’s still missing.”

“Really,” Al said, frowning. He crossed his arms and said, “Okay, you sold me.”

“Al?”

“Something’s gotta be up. Ultra, Savage, and the Wizard, all missing?”

“Damned peculiar,” Wes nodded grimly. Around the table, the others all had similar expressions.

Charles rubbed his chin. “Which leads me to ask, how many other of our foes are missing?”

“And where th’ hell are they at?”

“And who’s bringing them together?”

“And to what end?”

Al laughed suddenly.

“What’s funny, kiddo?”

“You know those Russian dolls? Open one up, there’s a smaller one inside?”

“Yeah?”

“This case just suddenly reminded me of one of them.”

His old friends shared a chuckle at the image.

Al shook his head ruefully. “I always did hate those dolls.”


End file.
